John Harriman

John's life in music began at the age of 7 as a chorister in Westminster Cathedral Choir in London. He rose to become Head Chorister of the Choir and was featured soloist on radio and TV in the UK and abroad. He performed and sang for the Royal Opera and toured with the Royal Opera Group.

Having trained as a classical pianist, John became interested in jazz in his teens. He lived for many years in California where he was an active participant in the music scene and attended Dick Grove Music Workshops in Los Angeles, one of the first 'jazz' schools. He has worn more than one hat: graduating in law from University of California at Berkeley (where he was also pianist for UCB's jazz ensemble) he held a demanding 'day' job for a time.

John's style of jazz playing has influences from mainstream, modern and latin jazz and from his enthusiasm for the 'european' sound, and he briefly studied with revered British jazz pianist John Taylor.

John performs regularly in a variety of jazz settings in both mainstream and Latin jazz and he is also an occasional Church organist. He has played with a range of leading artists including Mark Lockheart, Mark Armstrong, Derek Nash, Jo Fooks, Nick Smart, Mike Hext etc.

In recent years John's reputation has grown in particular for Latin Jazz. He created the highly regarded Latin Jazz Quintet Heads South playing mostly original music composed by John. The Observer newspaper says "Heads South's strong points are the compositions and keyboard playing of leader John Harriman and the trumpet of Steve Waterman, which combine to create a spare, crisp, invigorating set of Latin jazz" and the Musician hails the band's debut album as "The start of something very special".

John's music mirrors his diverse personal background with Irish, French and English grandparents and a Spanish wife, to whose Castilian homeland he decamps when they can.

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